Wild With Younger Hearts
by bobtheacorn
Summary: Nami doesn't even turn at the first cry of, "Stop! Thief!" that breaks over the crowd like a thunderclap. / A Modern AU for Arlong Park
1. in for a penny

-x-

wild with younger hearts  
_in for a penny_

-x-

Nami doesn't even turn at the first cry of, _"Stop! Thief!"_ that breaks over the crowd like a thunderclap. The air is cool after a late August rain, steam wafting up from the sun-warmed street and curling her short hair. She lifts a hand to tuck it behind her ear because it's distracting, eyes scanning the sea of people as she hitches her canvas bag more securely onto her shoulder and continues walking at a steady pace, her short heels clacking on the pavement. The second shout is closer than she expects, and far too specific:

"Someone stop that girl with the orange hair! She stole my watch! ...And my wallet!"

A woman walking toward Nami looks right at her, shocked and clutching at her purse; another man to the side of her stops in his tracks.

Grinning, Nami breaks into a run.

_"Hey...!"_

She slips through the crowd, navigating easily between the people moving toward their destination and around the vendors taking up the sidewalk. No one tries to stop her, and the man's frustrated cries fade away as she cuts the corner at the far end of the block and disappears down the steps to the subway station. Here, running isn't nearly so conspicuous. It only looks as if she's late for her train, which - she lifts the man's fine gold watch from the pocket of her jacket - she is.

The 7:45 leaves in less than ten minutes.

Nami mutters a swear, skipping steps on the way down. She's in too much of a hurry, though, and these damn heels - three steps from the bottom, she misses one. Her foot goes out into open air and Nami plummets forward, a sharp gasp pulling into her lungs, hands batting for the rail, another person, _something_.

She expects to hit the concrete.

What she hits, instead, is a solid chest.

Someone catches her, two hands grabbing her at the arms to hold her upright. He even manages to catch her bag when it slips from her shoulder and Nami is stunned for a moment, her face pressed into his chest. Her fingers twist into the sleeves of his jacket, bright red and worn soft, thinning out at the elbows. Whoever it is laughs, breath warm against the top of her head, "Hey, that was close!" and when she looks up she sees a wide grin - a straw hat, of all things, sitting on the teen's head.

A kid from the country, probably. He can't be any older than she is. Nami stumbles a little getting her feet underneath her, takes that last careful step down the stairs. She's still hanging onto the teen's elbows and bats his hands away, more insistently that she probably has to. He lets her go as soon as she pulls her hands back.

"Yeah," she says, breathless from the shock, "Thanks - "

_"There you are, you little bitch!"_

Nami starts, twisting around. That persistent asshole has found her. She spots him over the heads of people hurrying around them to catch their train, and Nami has a choice to make. She grabs her savior by the arm with both hands, practically wraps herself around him. The teen tugs on his arm, confused (_"Hey, what're you doin'?"_), and Nami says, loud enough that the man barreling at them like a bull that sees red will hear, in the most placating voice she can muster, "I did exactly what you asked, Boss! Here's everything I got this morning~"

She makes a show of handing him the watch and the wallet and then she bolts, pushing the poor boy toward the foot of the stairs, slipping her hands deftly into his pockets before she breaks away entirely. It's pointless; they're as empty as the wallet she's left with him, but she has more than enough money to compensate for giving up the watch. The man's voice, booming in outrage, is lost under the noise of the crowd, amplified by the vast, swooping ceilings and archways of the subway station. Nami feels a little bad for throwing that guy under the bus - he did save her from breaking her neck - but she jumps the turnstalls while the security guard is preoccupied without once looking back.

-x-

The train isn't as full as it usually is.

With all the commuters trying to make it to school and work on time, it's usually fit to burst, but as Nami hops onto the car behind an elderly woman, she sees that there's a row of open seats directly across from the door. Nami takes the one in the middle after scanning the sparse crowd. She unzips her jacket, warm from all the running and trying to catch her breath, combing a hand back through her hair. Her ankle hurts; she realizes she twisted it when she fell and crosses her legs to lift it, rubbing absently where it's tender. The doors open a few more times, letting late-comers on, and Nami occupies her time with inconspicuously sifting the cash out of the wallets crowding up her jacket pockets. She'll discard them later, once she gets off the train.

Sighing, Nami leans forward, propping her elbow on her raised knee and resting her chin in her hand as she curls over around her bag, sliding the thick wad of cash into the inside pocket. She regrets having to get rid of that expensive watch. Buggy would have given her a grand for it, at the very least, but it can't be helped, now. Collateral damage and all that... But as luck would have it, her collateral damage waltzes onto the train the next (and last) time the doors open - the teen in the red jacket, pushing that straw hat back on his head and looking around like he's lost. There's not a scratch on him. Nami sits upright, and she must make a noise in her surprise, because he looks right at her across the crowded car.

"Hey, it's you!" he says loudly, getting looks from several people. He makes a beeline for Nami with little regard for anyone in his path and Nami balks and raises her hands, shaking her head. She only hesitates because he's grinning. "Here! Why'd you gimme this, anyway?"

It's the gold watch, sitting in his palm when he holds it out to her.

Nami stares at it, her mouth open.

The teen continues, laughing, "You didn't have to pay me back or anything. I just happened to be standing there."

"What - " She stops, squeezing the edge of her seat as the train finally gives a shudder and lurches forward. Once the movement steadies, Nami darts her hand out to retrieve the watch, pocketing it before anyone else can get a good look at it, frowning at the other teen standing over her. It's expensive, there are shady people on this car, and he's just waving it around like an idiot. She keeps her voice quiet when she asks, "What happened to that guy?"

He looks puzzled, inclining his head, "What guy?"

"The guy - " She grits her teeth, hisses, "The one who was chasing me!"

"Oh," the teen says, "That guy. I beat him up."

_"You what?!"_

The outburst draws more curious looks and Nami clamps her hand over her mouth. The teen doesn't seem to care. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and Nami sees, a second before he does it, the bloody knuckles of his right hand. He shrugs his narrow shoulders up, the string hanging from his straw-hat bumping against his collarbone. He laughs, like it's nothing at all, "Yeah. He started yellin' and it was really annoying, so I punched 'im in the face." That easy grin is back. "I'm Luffy."

Nami is speechless.

-x-

She realizes fairly quickly that Luffy is an idiot. It takes probably five minutes.

First of all, he flops down in the empty seat beside her without any invitation. Nami doesn't mind that so much - she has sat beside worse on public transit. Not only did he save her from breaking her neck, he returned her stolen watch (even if she's the one that stole it). In hindsight that should have been her first sign, but there is just something about that stupid grin of his. It makes her feel... at ease? She certainly isn't used to that. It has her interest piqued. But when she shifts around in the seat so she's facing him, knees bumping against his thigh, and asks where he's going, Luffy blinks at her like it should be obvious and says, "School. Same as you, right?" which is technically right.

It's Wednesday. She _should _be going to school.

"Um, wrong," Nami says, somewhat skeptically, "This train is going down town, stupid, didn't you read the sign before you got on?"

Luffy laughs, raising his shoulders again in a tiny shrug, "No. The signs are really confusing." There's her second sign. She wonders if he's illiterate, or just stupid. "I usually just get on the train that's about to leave when I get here. But I guess that didn't work out so much today."

Probably both, Nami thinks.

And there goes her interest, right out the window.

"Wow," she says, smiling, but he doesn't seem to understand that it's sarcasm.

"Yeah. So I guess we're both skipping~"

_What an idiot_, she thinks, shifting around and leaning back in her seat. She spends twenty minutes sitting beside this bewildering boy, who's bouncing his knee to the swaying motion of the train as it hurries along, not bothered in the least by their truancy. He whistles to himself, eyes wandering around the train. When she knows her stop is coming up, Nami stands without saying anything to him, shouldering her bag and easing her way to the door around everyone else so she won't get trapped on the car when people start flooding in and out. Her ankle protests, throbbing in pain at having to brace against the stop, but at least she doesn't go sliding across the car on her face.

-x-

The stairs are a pain. Nami is annoyed with herself for not being more careful as she comes out of the station onto another busy sidewalk. The sky has lightened considerably from the drab grey it was before, the sun still hidden away behind a heavy bank of clouds. She knows it isn't going to rain, but the chill is lingering in the air and she zips up her jacket again before crossing the street, trying not to favor her throbbing ankle too much.

It's not until she hears a low whine behind her, after walking several blocks, that she realizes she's being followed.

"Man, you sure walk fast in those stupid shoes." She looks back, astonished to see Luffy directly behind her, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans and a disgruntled look on his face when he asks, "Where're you goin' in such a hurry?"

"None of your business," Nami says, voice high with indignity, _"Are you following me?"_

"Well, yeah - "

_"Why?"_

"I dunno."

Nami quickens her pace a bit, reaching into her bag as she glares over her shoulder. Luffy half-jogs to keep up with her. It's then that she notices the sound of his feet scuffing the concrete and sees that he's wearing sandals.

"I have pepper spray," she says.

She doesn't know why she warns him.

For some reason he looks excited, "Is it any good?" and Nami smiles sweetly, "Would you like to try it?!"

It occurs to her, though, that he has no idea what pepper spray _is _\- and she doesn't have the heart to mace someone that unbelievably stupid.

So she runs.

-x-

"What's in that huge bag, anyway?"

"If you're going to keep following me," Nami snaps, gripping the strap of her shoulder bag and stubbornly refusing to turn and acknowledge him further, "Then stop asking so many questions!"

She hears a low _hmph_, a murmured, "You sure are mean," but he doesn't ask anything else. Nami can't believe this. She's never met someone she couldn't outrun before. It definitely doesn't help that her ankle hurts more and more with every step, and she's very nearly limping, now. Without even thinking she shoots a glare over her shoulder to get another look at him. Luffy's lips are pressed into a pout, hat sitting crooked and hanging over his eyes. His head is turned to the side, staring into the windows of the shops they pass without any interest at all; his hands crammed into his pockets, shoulders relaxed, jacket flapping open over a real Doskoi shirt.

Nami knows it's not the knock-off brand - and it looks out of place on this gangly teenager, on top of jeans that the knees are all but torn out of. Sandals, in this weather - for gods' sake. She doesn't know what to think of this guy.

"Don't you have somewhere to _be?"_ she asks sharply, forgetting she was trying to ignore him.

Luffy looks are her, cramming his pinky into his left nostril.

"Not really."

Nami doesn't hide her disgust.

But this isn't exactly a nice part of town. She's not going to admit she doesn't really mind the extra company (the appearance of it, anyway), even if he does look like a buffoon. At the very least, she can use him as a deterrent again. Nami keeps both hands on her bag, one hand on the strap and the other resting over the flap, and looks both ways before jogging across the street in the middle of the block. There's barely any traffic, but the one car on the road honks loudly as it comes up on them. Nami wisely ignores it, hopping up onto the sidewalk; Luffy, on the other hand, with no regard for their safety, sticks his tongue out at the passenger that leans out the window with a rude hand gesture.

_He's going to get us shot,_ Nami thinks, and makes an effort to hurry. At the corner, she stops in front of a small shop with heavy bars on all the windows, so abruptly that Luffy, who is only half a step in her wake, nearly falls over the top of her. Nami shoves him back at arm's length, holds a finger up to silence him when he opens his mouth to say something.

"Don't touch anything in here," she says. He crosses his arms, head tilting to one side, and Nami elaborates, "You can come inside with me on this one condition. If you're going to touch anything, or ask stupid questions, then you can just wait out here on the sidewalk until I'm finished."

She says this mostly to dissuade him from coming in, thinking that if he has to wait outside by himself long enough he'll get bored and wander off. He isn't a dog. But she's met smarter dogs. Luffy lets out a long hum, clearly deciding.

"Fine," he says, and Nami almost smiles - she can't believe it worked - "I won't touch anything."

"Oh..." It's hard to hold onto her conviction. "Well...! Good!"

Put off, she adjusts the strap of her bag and hauls open the glass door. It's heavy with bars just like the windows are, stickers and old notices obscuring any view inside, a flashy OPEN sign hanging in the only clear corner of glass. A bell sounds from deep inside the store. Luffy drowns out the rising noise with a _whoop_ of his own, hurrying quickly around Nami as she steps inside and putting his hands up over his eyes, like he's looking across a great distance and shading his eyes.

"Wow! Look at all this neat stuff!"

The store isn't very wide, but it goes on the entire depth of the building. There are shelves and glass cases lining both walls all the way to the back counter, racks hanging from the ceiling and more shelves laid out in neat rows in the middle of the floor. They're short enough to see over and crammed full of miscellaneous items - from the polished broad swords hanging on the wall to old television sets crowding up the center shelf, trading cards and fine jewelry sharing space in the locked cases.

And the first thing Luffy does is make a bee-line for the nearest shelf.

_"What did I just tell you?!"_ Nami hisses under her breath, and Luffy stops short, looking scolded.

Nami makes an aggravated noise at him as she storms to the counter at the back of the shop, where the cash register is sitting unattended. She doesn't understand his enthusiasm at all - the pawn shop has its treasures, to be sure, but almost everything on the floor is junk, plain and simple.

She swings her bag up onto the counter just as the proprietor comes in from the back room behind it. Nami catches a glimpse of the room beyond, a desk stacked high with papers - a velvet-lined box sitting open and thick gold coins glinting under the florescent lights before the door is pulled smartly closed. Buggy regards Luffy with suspicion when he spots him sulking around near the front of the shop, leaning closely over a case of trinkets with his hands crossed behind his back. Glancing back to be sure he isn't doing anything _stupid_, Nami can't decide whether he's actually looking at the wares or making faces at his reflection in the glass.

Apparently Buggy is of the same opinion.

He props an elbow on the counter as he leans against it, the other on his hip. Nami has never fathomed why the man favors face-paint, but he always has; it's green this time, his blue hair pulled back into a long ponytail that hangs over his left shoulder. He's put himself deftly between Nami and the cash register, looking unimpressed with her company (if the highly arched triangles above his eyes are any indication).

"Who's the brat with the straw-hat?"

"I don't know," Nami says ruefully, then smiles and pats her bag, "But I'm here for business."

That earns her a grin from the pawnbroker.

"Are you, now?" he asks, intrigued, "I'm always happy to do business with someone who has such a keen eye for treasure. What've you got for me this time?"

Nami unloads the contents of her bag, one item at a time. She has several watches, earrings and necklaces, elaborate hair-pieces, an antique vase embossed with gold filigree, a few documents, and a number of petty things that won't get her much - electronics she nicked from rude kids off the train. Buggy doesn't ask where she got anything, and Nami doesn't say. While she's bartering for a decent price, Luffy is nosing through the aisles, being careful not to touch anything.

He finds lots of cool stuff.

There's a suit of brass armor standing in the furthest corner of the shop that he really wants to try on. He wails softly when he sees it, bolting across the shop and turning to the counter to see if Nami is looking, but she is, that mean glint in her eyes, and Luffy crosses his arms tightly, stamping his feet. He reluctantly leaves it alone, ducking down in another aisle to get a better look at the stuff on the bottom shelves that are covered with dust. He hugs his knees, craning his head to one side and then the other.

It's there he finds something _really_ awesome.

Nami yelps at the loud roar that suddenly fills the shop. Buggy almost drops the antique vase, his magnifying glass _plinking_ sharply on the glass counter top. Luffy surges to his feet from two aisles over, a long, narrow box gripped in his hands, held high over his head, _"LOOK AT THIS!"_

_"What is it?"_ Nami asks angrily, hand clutching her chest.

Luffy shakes the box at her.

_"Coleoptera!"_

That is not the word she expects to hear from him - too many syllables, for one thing. Nami doesn't even know what it _means_ and turns, bewildered, to Buggy, who looks alarmed and annoyed by the commotion. He sets the vase carefully aside, squinting at the box in Luffy's hands. Nami sees that it has a glass lid, a dark smudge through the middle where the dust has been cleared away. The teen comes right to them, nearly taking down a shelf in his haste when his foot catches on the corner of it.

He stumbles to the counter, Nami sliding out of his way, moving her empty bag aside so he has space on the counter to set the box. It's made of a dark wood, though it's hard to tell through the thick layer of dust; a foot long, little more than an inch thick, with a small metal clasp at the front. Nami leans against Luffy's shoulder to look inside, Luffy dancing from foot to foot as he clumsily rubs his hand over the glass again. His palm comes away dark brown.

Nami squeals and jerks away once she gets a good look.

Luffy is laughing, beside himself with joy.

"They're _bugs,"_ he says delightedly, grinning so hard his face must hurt, "I've never seen these kinds before!"

_"That's disgusting...!"_ Nami says, shrinking back.

"Don't worry," he laughs, "They're dead bugs!" Like that makes it _any _better _at all_. Nami shudders, shaking her head, and Luffy leans eagerly over the box to look at Buggy, hugging it against his chest. "Hey, mister, can I have this!?"

But he's already broken the first unspoken rule of bartering: showing interest with that open, honest face of his. Nami sighs. She knows for a fact that this boy is broke. And Buggy does exactly what she expects him to, taking the box right out of Luffy's hands.

"Of course you can't _have_ it," the pawnbroker says, like he can't believe his ears, "This is a business, not a charity!" The narrow case disappears behind the counter, on the shelf below the register, and Luffy sprawls out across the top of the glass, his mouth hanging open in disappointment. Buggy blocks his view of it, hip leaned against the counter, arms crossed and grinning. "But if you're willing to make me a decent offer, I might be willing to part with it."

He says this, but he can probably tell at a glance that Luffy doesn't have anything to offer except the lint in his pockets; Buggy can smell a penniless bum a mile away, and this kid reeks of it. The way Luffy's face sags almost makes Nami feel bad. He settles into a deep frown, eyebrows knotting together.

"I don't have any money."

_Too honest,_ Nami thinks, rubbing her forehead.

She doesn't jump in to make an offer for him, despite the thick wad of cash sitting in her bra when they finally leave the shop. She has to give him credit for making a pretty convincing argument. That box probably _hasn't_ been touched in years, but someone who's been in the business as long as Buggy isn't going to be persuaded by something so trivial. Luffy is pouting in earnest and scuffing his feet on the sidewalk, a hand rubbing absently at his stomach, a dusty palm print across how shirt.

Nami walks with him in silence. She doesn't remember she was trying to get rid of him, that she still has errands to run and she would really prefer not to be followed, until Luffy pipes up, voice a pitiful whine, "I'm starving." His stomach chooses that moment to rumble in agreement.

Amused, Nami lifts an eyebrow.

"I don't think you're going to be able to find a place to eat around here if you don't have any money," she points out, stopping at the corner.

The traffic has picked up. Luffy stands at the crosswalk with her, waiting for the light to turn and let them cross the busy street, and he twists to take in their surroundings, the signs hanging over the streets and the billboards on the rooftops. Unexpectedly, he grabs Nami by the arm. He pulls her away from the corner, down the street, and Nami tries to dig her heels in (_"Hey, just what d'you think you're doing?!"_), but pain shoots through her ankle, sending her tumbling after Luffy.

He's grinning when he turns to her, holding tight to her forearm so she doesn't fall. He stops pulling so hard, slows down his pace.

"I know a place we can eat~"

-x-

(A/n) Written for LuffyxNami Week, 2014! Day 3's prompt was AU and I got carried away! WAY away!

-BobTAC


	2. in for a pound

-x-

wild with younger hearts  
_in for a pound_

-x-

Only a fool wouldn't recognize this place.

Nami has seen the advertisements on high-arching billboards, transit buses, and park benches; has heard the high praises running through eager, wistful crowds like wildfire. The restaurant is set in a three-story building: two floors for the restaurant itself, a wrought-iron hedged balcony that overlooks the brick patio below, and lofts (presumably the owners') with slanting gallery windows occupying the topmost floor. A lean neon blue sign hangs over the entrance, bearing the name _Baratie_. Nami is curious again despite herself, beneath a haze of bewilderment, as Luffy guides her down the sidewalk, his fingers looped around her wrist and that stupid grin growing on his face.

"You've got to be joking," she says aloud, gripping the strap of her empty bag.

Luffy's answer is an easy laugh.

There's a long line of people gathered in front of the doors, talking among their small groups and waiting to be seated. Nami has no delusions at all of the two of them even getting inside. She can't help wondering what Luffy is playing at, bringing her to _the_ Nicest Restaurant in the city. That he managed to find it at all is a miracle considering he couldn't even put himself on the right train to get to school this morning. But Luffy doesn't even breach the intricately-laid brickwork of the patio; instead he turns aside, down the alleyway.

The side door is propped open with a chair, steam from the kitchen billowing out.

Luffy hops the short step and goes inside, and Nami, gasping, is has no choice but to follow him. Before she can form a protest, the kitchen's atmosphere crashes around her. The smell of spices and grease and fresh green all at once; the clatter of dishes, pots and pans; and a myriad of voices, chefs swearing and shouting orders back and forth across the lines. It's warm and hard to breath. There's so much steam and smoke, such frenzied motion, that Nami doesn't have time to take it all in, and yet Luffy guides her easily around the counters lined with ingredients or plates waiting to be sent out or prepared. They're almost through the swinging door on the far side of the kitchen when a voice breaks over all the rest, _"Chore boy!"_

Luffy flinches and stops just shy of the door, Nami crowding flat against his back as he steps in front of her, like his wiry frame is going to hide her from view. Heart pounding in her chest, Nami peers over his shoulder, her hands fisted into the back of his jacket. The rim of his straw-hat prods her in the forehead.

A broad man with thick arms looms before them, scowling.

"What're ya doin' in here?" he snarls. The nameplate on his chef's coat reads _Patty._ The tattoos and thick build make him look more like a professional wrestler than a cook. "Y'know yer not allowed in the kitchen! The Chef doesn't have anything for you to do today, so get on outta here!"

"We're here for breakfast, not work!" Luffy says, guileless and grinning.

He pushes their way out of the kitchen and all the noise - Patty's indignant yell for them to _wait right there_ \- is cut off the instant the door swings closed behind them.

-x-

They come out into a short, narrow hallway with warm light and dark hardwood floors. Nami can still hear the ruckus just behind them and the polite clink and murmur from the guests in the dining hall ahead, but it all sounds muted under the sound of Luffy's laughter as he gallops down the hall. At the end of it he stops, in front of a big table that's partitioned off from the main dining area by a low wall. It houses a circular leather bench instead of the regular assortment of chairs - and one man, sprawled across the seat as if it's a park bench. His arms are crossed behind his head, one booted foot propped on the edge of the leather seat. He's snoring audibly, face hidden from Nami's view beneath the table.

Luffy bangs his hands on the table, craning forward to get a look at the guy.

"Zoro! Hey, Zoro!"

The man grunts and props himself up on an elbow, squinting at them across the top of the table. The green hair and dense look isn't much of a surprise. Nami regards him suspiciously. What kind of idiot takes a nap in the middle of a nice restaurant like this? He's dressed even more casually than Luffy is, just a long-sleeve shirt and dark jeans. He looks like a vagabond that just wandered in off the street. Luffy climbs across the bench seat on his hands and knees.

Nami presses her face into her palm.

What kind of idiot runs through the kitchen of a nice restaurant like this, as if he owns the place?

Lifting her head, Nami notices the sword that's propped against the inside of the low wall, closed in a white sheath. She cuts her eyes toward Zoro as he sits up to accommodate the gangly teen moving into his space. Who even carries katana nowadays? Nami doesn't bother taking a seat. She glances around, half waiting on someone to come and throw them out. But that chef doesn't come storming down the hall after them, and the only waiter she spies among the tables is busy at the moment.

Briefly, she considers bolting, but her ankle throbs in protest when she shifts her weight onto it and nearly buckles. She winds up fumbling for a grip on the table and drops down into the seat across from Zoro, her empty bag slipping from her shoulder and _thumping _lightly against the floor. Her sudden weight bounces Luffy, who's nearest, on the same cushion. He laughs when he knees bump against the underside of the table, turning to grin at her.

Zoro doesn't even seem to have noticed her.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" the swordsman says, raising an eyebrow Luffy as the teen practically lays across the table to get at the tall glass in front of Zoro. He deftly moves it out of Luffy's pawing reach. Nami sees the way the beverage foams, recognizes the smell as beer.

Luffy props his chin in his hand, deterred for the moment.

"We skipped today~"

_"We,"_ Zoro says, and looks at Nami.

"Yeah! This is Nami," Luffy says, grinning, "She's a thief~"

Nami's beginning to wonder if maybe he isn't as dense as she originally thought, her brow knotting as she looks at him. _Idiot_, she thinks furiously, _blurting something out like that._ She doesn't bother denying the accusation, lifting her chin to meet Zoro's wary stare, carefully gauging his reaction.

It isn't like she's going to see either of them after this.

What does she care what he thinks?

All the swordsman says is _"Huh_," lifting his glass. He watches her over the top of it, downs the remaining beer in well-practiced swig and sets it back down on the table. Then he sighs and closes his eyes, rubbing the back of his head. He looks at Luffy, eyes narrowed. Nami almost wonders if they're related, though she can't see any discernible resemblance; this is the unmistakable look of an older brother, exhausted with a little brother's persistently unruly behavior.

"You attract some real weirdo's, y'know that?"

_"Excuse me?!"_

Luffy has a laugh ready, sitting back in his seat, "What's wrong with that?" He puts his hands flat on the tabletop, oblivious to Nami's indignant outburst, her coloring cheeks, as he peers over the low wall and out into the dining area. His voice drops into a whine. "Where's Sanji? 'M starvin'... Oh! Sanji!"

"I thought I heard someone making a ruckus," a tall blonde says, stepping into view. It's the waiter Nami saw earlier; dressed in a black and blue suit, an empty serving tray propped against his hip and a cigarette between his lips. He sighs out a trail of smoke, looking at Luffy with trepidation. "What're you doin' here, Luffy? Your old man's gonna kick your ass if he finds out you're skipping school again."

Luffy sticks his tongue out, "So!?"

Sanji ignores the childish outburst, turning to offer Nami a smile, "Who might this lovely lady be?"

"This is Nami!" Luffy says before she has the chance, "She's our friend!"

Nami recoils at that, scowling.

"Excuse me?! Says who?"

"Says me," Luffy says, pointing to his chest as if that settles things.

"We've known each other two hours! We are _not_ friends!"

"Doesn't matter," Zoro says lazily, spinning his empty glass on the table.

"He thinks he's the only one who gets to decide," Sanji says, lifting a shoulder with a wide, apologetic smile, "Don't worry about it. He's just an idiot."

Nami is too speechless to argue with this.

-x-

When Sanji finally gives in to Luffy's relentless wail for food and asks Nami what she'd like, Nami is still torn between being annoyed at whatever the hell is happening today and beguiling a free meal out of someone. She bats her eyes at Sanji, pouts a little.

"I don't have any money..."

Sanji gushes, "Anything for you is on the house, Miss Nami~" in the same breath that he growls at Zoro with, telling the swordsman he can't _drink his breakfast_, he has to have some _goddamn sustenance _or else find somewhere else to park his sorry ass. Zoro grumbles as Sanji lifts his empty glass away, yawns widely behind his hand and leans into his crossed arms on the table. His eyes drift closed like he's going to fall asleep again now that the commotion has died down.

Sanji disappears down the short hallway to the kitchen and Luffy is grinning at the prospect of food.

Nami taps her fingers against the tabletop, frowning in thought.

She scans the dining room, spots a clock on the wall above the bar. It's after ten. Inwardly, she swears. She had other errands to run today, and if she lingers here any longer, the whole day will be gone before she knows it. If she misses any more school, it will attract attention... She glances at Luffy, her brow knotting again. He's laid his chin on his crossed arms, one hand outstretched and plucking at the sleeve of Zoro's shirt, where's it's hugging his bicep.

How did she let herself get hijacked like this? She could just get up and leave.

Luffy spots her looking at him, hums and asks, "What's up, Nami?"

Nami shakes her head, "Nothing." She tried to outrun him once already. He's like a tide that keeps pulling her in somehow.

-x-

From this vantage point, if Nami tilts her head just a little, Nami can see all the way across the dining room to the front of the restaurant. The morning has brightened up, the rain clouds thinning out, whisked away on an eastward wind. It will probably heat up later this week before it turns off cold for real. Nami watches the hostess seat people as a few tables are emptied, and another waiter or two that are supposed to be bussing tables doing so without any real sense of urgency. There are still plenty of people milling about in line outside, but as Nami watches, a teen breaks through their ranks with the air of a harried old man, pushing along an enormous, ancient bicycle.

Nami hears the sharp ring of the bell.

He shoulders his way in through the door and rolls right past the hostess and the front of the line. When the hostess tries to stop him, pointing toward the bike, the teen shakes his head, hefts the bulky frame under his arm as if it's an extra-large briefcase, and high-tails it for the back of the restaurant. Nami can hear him muttering apologies as he works his way through the dining hall, occasionally bumping chairs or tables. He ambles right up to their table, gripping the handlebars of his bike in his free hand so the front wheel doesn't swing wildly, a heavy backpack hanging off his shoulder.

Luffy sits up, grinning, and raises a hand, "Hey, Usopp!"

Usopp doesn't look like he shares the sentiment.

"Luffy, how about letting someone know ahead of time when you're gonna be skippin' school, huh?" he asks, the bike clattering under it's own weight when he sets it down, propping a hand on his hip, "I waited outside on the sidewalk for you for almost an hour! D'you have any idea how stressful that is?"

"Sorry," Luffy laughs, "I got on the wrong train!"

"Again? You idiot." The way Usopp sighs, this is a more regular occurrence than Nami originally guessed. It takes her a few seconds to realize she recognizes him, though. It's the long nose and the dark, wild hair curling out from under his hat. He's a lower classmen at her school, probably a year younger than she is; he's always sitting in the library with a quiet, blonde girl, shooting paper wads into the trashcan. When he looks at Nami, recognition lights his face, colored with confusion, "Hey, you go to school with us, don't you? Nami, right?"

"That's right," Nami says, mystified.

"You guys know each other?" Luffy asks, looking between them in surprise.

"Well, not really," Usopp says, "Luffy, you're not just picking up strangers on the train again, are you?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Why, indeed," Usopp mutters. His stern demeanor brightens up considerably when Sanji appears at their table again, a tray laden with drinks balanced in his palm. "Hey, Sanji! You haven't served breakfast, yet, have you...?"

"No, I was just about to get started," Sanji says, lowering the tray to distribute drinks. Nami takes hers with a smile, closing her lips around the straw. She had assumed Sanji was just a waiter, but now that she thinks about it, she's seen his name in the paper before. The owner's son - adopted, she thinks. He took the culinary circuit by storm when he became the Baratie's sous chef at just 18. Sanji jerks a thumb as Usopp, sliding a tall glass of cola into Luffy's waiting hands. "Go take care of my tables while I'm in the kitchen, would ya?"

"Excuse me, I don't work here. Make Luffy do it!"

"He breaks the plates and scares the customers. You can keep the tips."

"Really?" Usopp doesn't seem to need more persuading than that. "Well, alright, fine, I guess since you asked so nicely."

He shrugs off his backpack and swings it underneath the table so it's out of the way. He lifts his bike again, pushing it into the narrow space in between the back of the seat and the low wall. Nami gets a better look at it, then, tilting her head to the side. The frame is painted white, with broad light-brown words circling the central bar; _Merry-Go_. There are scuffs in the paint and the tires are worn down almost to the wire. It wouldn't be worth much. Nami sits back in her seat, sipping her drink.

Sanji points with his free hand, cigarette between his teeth, "How many times I gotta tell you not to bring that hunk a junk in here?"

"Kaya gave me this!" Usopp says vehemently, and continues trying to cram the bulky metal frame into the tight space, "What d'you want me to do, leave it out on the street for some hooligan to ride off into the sunset on?"

"You need a new one, anyway."

"You shut your mouth..!"

Luffy blows bubbles in his soda trying not to laugh.

-x-

Over breakfast, Nami finds out that Zoro works at a dojo just down the street. This explains the white sword he carries, though when Nami asks where he got such a rare (not to mention expensive-looking) item, he dodges her question and doesn't answer. That's probably for the best, anyway. She has no idea what Buggy would give her for a sword without knowing anything about it. Zoro teaches the advanced swordsman class, but he's most proficient in _Santoryu_, three sword style - Nami has never heard of such a thing. And for a laid back guy that drinks down three pints of beer inside of a hour, he certainly doesn't seem like the "scary mentor" Usopp's exaggerated tales make him out to be.

Zoro insists that he still has a lot to learn about swordsmanship.

Luffy begs to differ.

"Zoro's the best," he says, like it's just a fact.

Nami marvels at this kind of trust.

Luffy is a truant with poor grades and an unnatural passion for entomology, which fully explains the way he lost his mind over a case full of dead bugs earlier. Usopp talks about the four of them like he's trying to catch Nami up, taking to Luffy's assertion that she is definitely their friend now as much to heart as Zoro and Sanji had. Nami decides there's no downside to being friendly with them if it gets her a free meal, even if they're all broke and stupid.

They're nice guys. They don't ask her any prying questions.

Zoro finishes his breakfast and dozes at the table. Sanji swears at the boys with almost every breath (he is all smiles and politeness to Nami, so she indulges him in kind), but there is never a shortage of food at their table. Usopp and Luffy put their heads together over Usopp's phone trying to identify bugs. They tell bad jokes - every single one of them. Usopp weaves stories that Nami doesn't believe in the slightest and Luffy laughs like it's the easiest thing in the world.

Nami finds herself smiling in earnest, for the first time in a long time.

-x-

Before she realizes it, hours have passed. It's almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon when Sanji comes back to the table and swats Zoro in the shoulder, points toward the wall clock and says, "You need someone to walk you to work, moss head? Your class'll be starting without you."

Zoro stands, fastening his sword to his hip and narrowing his eyes at the cook.

"I can get there," he insists.

The others look like they don't believe him; Usopp snickering behind his hand, Luffy and Sanji outright grinning despite the swordsman's glare. Nami wonders what's so funny, but she eases herself up, as well, reaching under the table for her bag. Her ankle doesn't throb when she stands on it and she can already tell it's going to be a lot easier to walk on, now.

"I'll go out with you," she says, and breaks into a grin at Zoro's reluctant expression, "What? Do you mind?"

"Do whatever you want."

Sanji knees him in the hip, scowling.

"Talk nicer to the lady, you animal!" he says, then simmers down a bit to add, "Also, before I forget - "

To Nami's surprise, the chef produces a roll of cash, closed tight with a rubber band, from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Usopp pounds his fist on the table, "Oh, that's right! It's Wednesday, isn't it?" The teen disappears under the table for his own bag. Nami watches with interest as he fishes out a change purse that's bursting with coins and rumpled bills. The money Zoro pulls out of his pockets is little more than a disheveled wad before he counts it out and folds it. Zoro pockets the money that Usopp and Sanji give him, along with his own, and Sanji makes a passing comment wondering why the hell they trust him to carry it before turning to Luffy expectantly.

Luffy grimaces at them, hums for a solid minute and avoids eye-contact before he says bluntly, "I forgot."

The others sigh and drop their heads.

"You idiot..."

"This was you're idea, Luffy, and you're always flaking...!"

"I'm sorry!" Luffy claps his hands together, raises them over his head. "I'll get some money tomorrow, I promise!"

Sanji jabs a finger at him, "You can pick up a shift or two if you need to - if you promise not to break any goddamn dishes!"

"What's the money for?" Nami asks before she can stop herself.

Zoro makes a point of not saying anything at all, his hands defensively in his pockets as he watches her. This is the reaction Nami expects thanks to Luffy's outburst. She smiles at him, regardless. Mistrust she gets. That's something normal for a change.

Luffy folds his arms on the table again, grinning.

"We're saving up for something big!"

He doesn't give her a more specific answer than that, and Nami decides not to ask.

"Well, it was nice meeting you guys," she says, and maybe really means, "Thanks for the meal~"

This is met with a barrage of _"Any time, Miss Nami!"_ and _"See you tomorrow, Nami!"_ Nami disregards the later of these, shouldering her bag and turning away. Since Zoro has already wandered off toward the front of the restaurant, Usopp pulls her aside to give her directions to the dojo (_"Don't let him tell you he knows the way, because he doesn't! Listen...!"_). Nami figures it's the least she can do, walking a grown man to down the block so he doesn't get lost in the perfectly-gridded city streets.

-x-

Standing out on the sidewalk, Nami takes a deep breath of cool air and lets out a sigh. She combs her hair back behind her ear, cants her head to one side to look at Zoro. His hands are still in his pockets, his right arm circled around the hilt of his sword, but he's staring off down the sidewalk. Nami's struck by how broad he is, how much calmer compared to Luffy. Of course she doesn't miss how on guard he is, either, now that it's just the two of them. He was much more relaxed inside around the others.

_Still_, Nami thinks, if she wanted to take his money, and his sword for that matter, she probably could.

She considers it, then shakes her head. Her ankle would probably betray her and she'd rather not try her luck.

"Come on, big guy," Nami says, stepping around him to lead the way.

Zoro falters for a second, as if he were going to go in the other direction, then reluctantly follows after her, grumbling under his breath. Nami pointedly ignores him, tugs the zipper of her jacket up to keep some of the restaurant's lingering warmth in. She's got a long walk to the subway station from here, and she's going out of her way for no good reason. The cold doesn't seem to bother Zoro. Probably all the alcohol burning through his system, but he doesn't stagger around the way Nami expects him to after watching him drink.

He's as steady as stone.

A goofy, gullible kid like Luffy probably needs someone like that.

-x-

(A/n) Continued for LuffyxNami Week, 2015! what a lazy asshole, I am so sorry, kids /lmao

-BobTAC


End file.
